The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-06-04

until the laborers come to begin their
daily task; then he leaves his work to
make room for others. Such material
never makes tramps. And the world
is full of such good lives which we find
in these unlikely places.
By faith in things above him, Lin
coin, so grand and true, toiled up from
the depths below. Paul worked his
way from narrow prosecuting Phari-
seeism to the broadcast manhood. And
the Saviour OF the world was born in
manger. So, out of this busy life is
born the noblest elements of character.
The life of the world is not all worldly
life. 1t is transformed by the renewing
of our minds, so that by the faith and
courage Of men, "the kingdoms of this
world become the kingdom of Gods
dear Son."
But this is not all. We gain in this
busy, hurrying life by crowding so much
into our lives. We live more, accom-
plish more and enjoy more in year
than Methuselah did in all his life.
Methuselah is said to have lived over
900 years. That is the record. Now
what is the record of his life. He was
born, he begat sons and daughters and
he died. Nine-hundred years and only
an animal life. o, the riches Of our
life in deeds, in thought, in spirit, COM
| pared with such life.
We have condensed milk and concen-
trated meat, and we have condensed
life; and the day is coming when we
shall not spend all our best forces in
gathering up the lower element of life.
The work of a brainy, large souled man
will be to transform these lower forces
into higher forms of life. 1t is easy to
pile one dollar upon another and so
grow rich. But it is nobler work to
change dollars into thoughts, and green
backs into brains and character and
life. He who lives only for money, will
die poor, though he leaves millions.
While he who puts his money into liv-
ing institutions that enlarge the thought
and life, the happiness and joy of 9TH
ers, leaves wealth that increases as
the world grows in life and love.
But another thought crowds upon us.
Man has constant struggle for exist
ence andyet how much above and beyond
his Surroundings he lives. When we
we think that life is battle for bread
and butter, and that the most of men
must work early and late to keep the
wolf from the door, we wonder that
they get above the merest animal life.
And yet we find man, in the midst of
this conflict with matter, living in the
realms of highest thought and Spirit.
The farmer in his little cabin on the
great frontier, Sunday morning, turns
his back on the cares that vex, and
goes with his family five miles to church,
where he may hear of faith and love
and life, and seek strength that comes
from above. I have seen the sailor be-
fore the mast on Sunday morning,
washed, clean shaven and dressed as for
church, seated on deck reading Wash
ington Irving. His lot was a hard
one, and he was on the great deep be-
yond all Sunday laws; but there was
worship in his soul, and he found CON-
munion with the great thoughts of a
noble mind. have seen the father and
mother whose youth had been blighted
by dark and dreadful theology, try to
rear their children outside such blight
ing influences. Their church and their
Sabbath were in the sacred home.
There their children learned to love a
loving God and to follow a gentle
Saviour, and to live for the heavenly
home. They were called infidels, and
Sabbath breakers, and wicked, but they
had their communion with kindred
souls; and when the teacher of their
choice came their joy was full, and no
more thankful, earnest, consecrated
worshipers and workers could be found
than they. The isolated farmer and
sailor and ostracised family, all have
their higher thoughts and better lives
above their environments.
We might expect to see the race 60
ing down, as the old theology teaches,
about the fall of Adam and the deep
depravity of his descendants. But on
the contrary, we see them under great
est hindrances, seeking higher and bet
ter things. 1 know man whose early
life had no school-days. He had long
fight with poverty. He lived on the
frontier, and all his life, from poverty to
wealth, through half century, was
with the coal miners of Illinois, and
yet his companionship was with the
best, and his thoughts were above his
surroundings. 1 found him in his iso-
lated home not an unthinking toiler,
but cultured man, communing with
the great of all ages, and when 1 told
him how much good his money might
do in college to enlighten and enlarge
and strengthen the thought and life of
the young, as long as the college should
stand, his money came quickly and